The Crock of Gold | Page 4

dark pine
wood. Into this place the sun never shone because the shade was too
deep, and no wind ever came there either, because the boughs were too
thick, so that it was the most solitary and quiet place in the world, and
the Philosophers were able to hear each other thinking all day long, or
making speeches to each other, and these were the pleasantest sounds
they knew of. To them there were only two kinds of sounds
anywhere--these were conversation and noise: they liked the first very
much indeed, but they spoke of the second with stern disapproval, and,
even when it was made by a bird, a breeze, or a shower of rain, they
grew angry and demanded that it should be abolished. Their wives
seldom spoke at all and yet they were never silent: they communicated
with each other by a kind of physical telegraphy which they had
learned among the Shee-- they cracked their finger-joints quickly or
slowly and so were able to communicate with each other over immense
distances, for by dint of long practice they could make great explosive
sounds which were nearly like thunder, and gentler sounds like the
tapping of grey ashes on a hearthstone. The Thin Woman hated her
own child, but she loved the Grey Woman's baby, and the Grey Woman
loved the Thin Woman's infant but could not abide her own. A
compromise may put an end to the most perplexing of situations, and,
consequently, the two women swapped children, and at once became
the most tender and amiable mothers imaginable, and the families were
able to live together in a more perfect amity than could be found
anywhere else.
The children grew in grace and comeliness. At first the little boy was
short and fat and the little girl was long and thin, then the little girl
became round and chubby while the little boy grew lanky and wiry.
This was because the little girl used to sit very quiet and be good and
the little boy used not.
They lived for many years in the deep seclusion of the pine wood

wherein a perpetual twilight reigned, and here they were wont to play
their childish games, flitting among the shadowy trees like little quick
shadows. At times their mothers, the Grey Woman and the Thin
Woman, played with them, but this was seldom, and some- times their
fathers, the two Philosophers, came out and looked at them through
spectacles which were very round and very glassy, and had immense
circles of horn all round the edges. They had, however, other playmates
with whom they could romp all day long. There were hundreds of
rabbits running about in the brushwood; they were full of fun and were
very fond of playing with the children. There were squirrels who joined
cheerfully in their games, and some goats, having one day strayed in
from the big world, were made so welcome that they always came
again whenever they got the chance. There were birds also, crows and
blackbirds and willy-wagtails, who were well acquainted with the
youngsters, and visited them as frequently as their busy lives permitted.
At a short distance from their home there was a clear- ing in the wood
about ten feet square; through this clear- ing, as through a funnel, the
sun for a few hours in the summer time blazed down. It was the boy
who first dis- covered the strange radiant shaft in the wood. One day he
had been sent out to collect pine cones for the fire. As these were
gathered daily the supply immediately near the house was scanty,
therefore he had, while searching for more, wandered further from his
home than usual. The first sight of the extraordinary blaze astonished
him. He had never seen anything like it before, and the steady,
unwinking glare aroused his fear and curiosity equally. Curiosity will
conquer fear even more than bravery will; indeed, it has led many
people into dangers which mere physical courage would shudder away
from, for hunger and love and curiosity are the great impelling forces of
life. When the little boy found that the light did not move he drew
closer to it, and at last, emboldened by curiosity, he stepped right into it
and found that it was not a thing at all. The instant that he stepped into
the light he found it was hot, and this so frightened him that he jumped
out of it again and ran behind a tree. Then he jumped into it for a
moment and out of it again, and for nearly half an hour he played a
splendid game of tip and tig with the sunlight. At last he grew quite
bold and stood in it and found that it